This post is about one of my absolute favorite reading + writing activities. I know it's been done before in a ton of different ways and has been given various titles, but I just call it 'Mixed Up Sentences.' Here's the low down:

1. Gather different colored paper and cut into strips. I keep a handy supply of strips in 10 assorted colors. I'll tell you why *10* later.

2. Get out your curriculum materials, a black Sharpie, and scissors.

3. Decide how you want to use this activity. Center? Assessment? Pre-assessment? Fun practice?

Decide which recording sheet to use. (See below)

Find sentences in your curriculum (or think some up) that match the purpose or skill your trying to target.

4. How many sentences did you decide to do? Gather that many different colored strips.

My favorite one is this one... with 10 lines.

5. Write your sentences. Neatly. One per strip!

{7.22.12 - I just realized that I'm losing it. Teaching British English over here has led to me spelling things differently... like 'theatre.' Maybe it's the French that's doing it?}

6. Cut the sentences apart between each letter. Leave the punctuation attached to a word if you can. They're small and can get lost easily. You can even chunk two words together if you have beginners!

7. Admire how pretty the pieces are.

8. This is how I set mine up as a center. I am obsessed with those pencil bags from Wal-Mart. They're cheap and paper fits perfectly when you fold it in half. I put the recording sheet, sentence pieces, and 10 matching colored pencils inside the bag. Now you're ready to rock n roll!

9. Let your students get to work! You can have them do it individually, in pairs, or in small groups! Sometimes I even split it up and have two centers with five sentences each... especially if they're rigorous sentences. They just do five, put away their recording sheet, then get it back out when it's time to do the rest.

They piece together all of the sentences, color their little circles, and write!

HINT: If this activity is not for an assessment, then I like to check their sentences before they write. They simply raise their hand when they've pieced a sentence (or all) together and I let them know if it's correct or not. Saves time and frustration on their part.

If you're the type that just can't stand writing things out, then try this approach... different fonts. Type all of your sentences out, but change each sentence to a different font. Make sure they're really different though! It backfired on me once when my kids couldn't tell the difference between Arial and Times New Roman. Seriously. They don't even look alike do they?!

Have students at different levels? Of course you do. You can differentiate this activity easily. Make more than one set of sentences. Same content. Different learning levels.

Hopefully all those little instructions make sense! Once you do it one time, you be able to whip it up again quickly. This activity can be used for virtually any topic, any level, and I like to weave in some science and social studies topics when I can. It's another way to integrate content.

Here are some more adaptation ideas:

I usually do this as a center with only one set of sentences, but you could do it whole class if you wanted to. Type the same sentence onto a page (multiple times), copy onto colored paper, then cut. Might be a bit crazy with pieces getting mixed up, but it works if you're kiddos are super organized. Maybe they could use little trays to keep their pieces in?

Since I have a small class sizes (10 EFL/ESL students in each class), I do this as a whole group activity by having them sit in a large circle and giving them 2 minutes with each sentence. They piece it together, raise their hand, I check, they write, then we rotate when everyone is done! Works like a charm.

Sentences can be hints to a special activity or something else. If you're studying bears, then you could have sentences that stated facts about bears! Roar.

Use the font version (above), cut out the words, mix them around on a piece of copy paper, glue down, copy, and send home for homework! Students could bring it back all cut apart and pieced back together.

There are many ways to adapt this activity. Got any more fun ideas or ways to adapt it?!

Here's a little freebie for ya'll! It's the recording sheets I use when I do this activity. There are different types depending on the level you teach and how many sentences you want to use. Dotted lines for younger kids and plain for older. I most often use the 10 line portrait version (the one in the photos). My fave. See on TPT.

So, what do you think? Have you done this before or is it something you think you can use? I really do love it and my kids do too!

Hi! I just found your blog and love it!!! I love this activity:) I have a linky party every Monday with crafts/ideas teachers make and then they share their inspirations on the linky. I would love it if you would link this post up:))

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Ashley

7/25/2012 11:21:57 pm

That sounds fun! What's your blog address Tara? :)

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Abbey

7/24/2012 02:23:23 am

Great activity. Here is something similar that I do for an American high-school French class. I type several sentences in French (all of them around a theme, such as food and quantity words, etc), print them out, and cut them into pieces. Then, on my projector board, I put the English translations of what I want them to spell out. They do it in groups of 3 to 4 - the first group finished gets candy. :) Here's a tip: I print off the sets on different colors of paper, and put all the pieces in a plastic baggie. This way, when a piece falls on the floor, I know which set it belongs to.

I have seen variations, but this is so nicely explained. I teach high school English and am thinking that this could be used to introduce new grammar concepts through observation. For example, if we are learning or reviewing appositives, I would have 10 sentences with examples in them taken from their grammar book or reflective of a reading unit or story we are in. Then instead of the Mixed Up Sentences sheet, I could have them record all their observations about the structure of the sentence in groups or alone. Then we could share them as a whole and I could give a reward to whomever hit the nail on the head. This leads into explaining the new concept.

What great spins on this classic center! I love the color code. I usually have my students write it in colored pencil to match the color I wrote it in, but this is a great way to mix it up and no sharpening those darn colored pencils that keep breaking! Another variation to increase support is to have them match it to a duplicate intact sentence. This is great for K and beginning of first or your special needs students. I have a harder version on my blog: http://www.ericabohrer.blogspot.com/2011/02/story-unscramble-center.html Sorry, it is in "gasp" comic sans, but it was one of the first things I posted on my blog. Thanks for sharing. I am spreading the word about your awesome blog.

I LOVE this idea; my sweet Kinders come in below Pre-K level, I plan on using this for alphabet sequence and number sequence. Thank you for another great idea. :)

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Reta Hanna

2/23/2013 06:07:31 am

Jenna. I loved the original idea and I love your adaptation of it. I am a resource teacher of kindergarteners and first grade students and I will use the sentences for my higher level first graders and the letters and numbers idea for my younger ones and those who are struggling with number identification.

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Christine

9/12/2012 01:55:10 am

Thank you so much! I've done a similar putting together sentences activity using cut up sentence strips, but I love the color coding and worksheets!

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Dawn

9/13/2012 11:45:23 am

I have done something similar, but I love your recording sheets more than mine. Thanks!

Ashley, I LOVE this!! So simple, but effective. This will be fabulous for my kindergarteners, but especially my ESL kids. I love ideas that I can see, make & use right away. Thanks for sharing! :)

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Owba67

3/25/2013 02:33:11 am

¡Hola! I will be doing this activity until school is out in May with my first grade dual immersion students in both English and Spanish. Love it! Talk about keeping them engaged and not too much prep to do. I'm going to type out my sentences and print them on different colored paper since by the end of writing the first 10 sentences I'll be tired! I'll have them do this with one set per pair of students. Thank you so much!

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Lisa L.

7/18/2013 11:12:11 pm

Great resource! Thanks! (Just an fyi- you have you're for your before the word kiddos)

Thanks for this great center idea Im looking forward to try it this week!!
I love your blog page its so much fun and full of great ideas!! Thanks!

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JULIE

2/9/2014 03:04:09 pm

Thanks for the Recording Sheet freebie on TPT! This looks like a fun center idea. Another FYI - On this blog page, in the sentence "Find sentences in your curriculum (or think some up) that match the purpose or skill your trying to target."...the 2nd "your" should be "you're", and on the TPT page, "If your unfamiliar with the activity, please visit my blog post..." again, "your" should be "you're" (for "you are". As teachers, I know we always want to model correctly for our students (AND their parents!) I give my students a "Lucky Bulldog", our school reward/incentive, when they catch a mistake or typo. It keeps them on their toes & helps me make needed corrections!

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Rob Vanderwerf

2/26/2014 03:38:35 am

This is great! Thank you so much...

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Blessing E.

8/21/2014 08:02:50 am

This is amazing! Thank you so much for letting up have it for free, because it is truly worth a MILLION bucks!

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Usha singh

9/24/2014 07:03:54 am

I used this idea with my grade 4 esl students. They really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing .

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Tony

11/26/2014 06:11:07 pm

great activity for my son

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Cathy

4/25/2015 08:23:25 am

Great idea! I was looking for a way to use my farmer in the dell charts (GLAD strategy) and get the kids making sentences with them in a way that would be easier and adaptable to centers. I think I will get different color pencil bags (green for verbs, purple for prepositional phrases, etc) if possible and they can create one sentence for our song, record it on paper, and illustrate it!

OMG! I! Even in 2015...this is still an awesome idea!
I always save my colored strips when i cut something so i can use them for flash cards or mixed up sentences or whatever but now i have a real organized purpose for them. And i love the zippered pencil pouch holder...how smart are you? Thanks so much for this idea and the templates!

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faz

1/5/2016 06:55:31 pm

This is great!I love it.

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Jess

3/15/2016 06:08:19 pm

I cannot wait to use this with my ELLs! It is a fun, engaging activity!

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kyoko

3/20/2016 02:00:36 am

I've been about using#Plus/ Minus Visual Game by Giovanni Belgrano and Bruno Munari# to the lesson for five years old class.
#Plus/ Minus# is The visual game 'Plus and Minus' consists of 72 cards, each with a different image. Many of these images (48) have a transparent background and can be superimposed to make different, more complex images to stimulate children's creativity. By overlapping pictures of trees you can create a wood. By adding some rain, the sun or the moon, or some birds, a passing dog, or whatever, the overall picture can be continuously changed.
But I find it difficult for 5years-old pupils to make sentences from out of scratch. Could you give me advice on this matter?
I'm Teaching Assistant at St Micheal's International school and I'll give 8 to 10 pupils the lesson on the second week of April .

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Holly

3/20/2016 06:14:47 am

I cut my strips up more like a jig saw puzzle so it is more obvious as to which word fits with the next word in the sentence. Also for kids that struggle more, I make the sentences easier and shorter or cut the sentences up in chunks.

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Ashley

9/25/2016 08:22:47 am

What size paper do you use? 8 1/2 x 11?

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carie

8/18/2017 10:34:12 pm

Ashley, you are terrific! Big thank you for this awesome idea. I will definitely use it in my class.